Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll be well aware that there won’t be a Formula 1 race until April. Due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, which does not seem to be approaching a real solution, F1 has been forced to cancel its races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
The five-week gap until the Miami Grand Prix, in the first week of May, isn’t as much closure as the teams get during the summer break. But while it’s a welcome break for F1’s hard-working crew, work continues at the factory to digest data from the opening F1 leg of the season and prepare updates for Miami and beyond. For some bands it’s a welcome break to address its weaknesses, while others could have benefited from more song time.
Who will be missed – Mercedes
Naturally, the team that would have benefited the most from continued action is the one with the best chance of winning in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. Mercedes have always been the team of the field, and would have been given the best chance to advance the bank points by sweeping the Middle East stages before the rival teams have a window to bring about major improvements.
Speaking positively about the sporting side of the equation, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said: “I think we would probably like it to continue in the two races in the Middle East and we can get a few points.”
Mercedes is not taking its early advantage lightly, expecting a major development push to begin in the coming weeks and months that could bring its competitors closer or equal. At the same time, Mercedes’ customer groups are continuing to tap into the first facility that the working group has on how to use the new complex electrical systems.
“People have learned now how to optimize these processes for their own benefit and we have seen the first sign of that [at Suzuka],” Wolff added. “What looked like his run in the first two races to us is not. Miami will also be a fresh start for me. “
As an aside, the two limited races before the start of June also mean that the Mercedes-powered teams will run the race before the tough pressure test, which will be introduced after the competitors with what the Brixworth constructor is doing. But whether that will have a big impact on Mercedes and its customers depends on who you listen to. Mercedes has always insisted that would not be the reason.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes
Photo by: Artur Widak / NurPhoto via Getty Images
Who will benefit – McLaren
Take your pick here, as any Mercedes-chasing team will naturally welcome a gap. McLaren probably chose this team, because it would always focus on Miami as its first stop for package development, rather than tracking things down to Bahrain. So it won’t lose anything by not running in the Middle East, but it will lose a few points to Mercedes and Ferrari.
McLaren’s start to the year has been marred by reliability issues, with various battery-related issues forcing Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri out of the Chinese Grand Prix before the start. But the reigning world champions appeared to be turning away from Japan, with Piastri looking set for second place after leading the first race.
Norris was still behind after reliability problems reduced his performance, but the team has gradually opened up more performance from Mercedes’ power units and its powertrain needs.
“I think there are some signs of progress from the point of view of performance and competition in general. I think this progress comes from the fact that we are getting more from the chassis with the set-up. But mainly we are getting more from the power plant,” Stella told Sky after qualifying in Japan.
Now it will hope to repeat its heroics of 2023 by taking a big step in Miami, although it is clear that its opponents will try to do the same.
Who will be missed – Aston Martin
On the other hand, the break appears to be good news for Aston Martin’s power supplier Honda. The Japanese manufacturer will be given more time to respond to the opening leg of the campaign and to implement some reliability fixes without interruptions to participate in the two race weekends, and another step is understood to come in Miami.
But while Aston Martin may not be fighting for points any time soon, there were no small problems at the races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia for the racing team. Instead, Aston now misses an even more important opportunity to understand and develop its AMR26 after falling far behind in the pre-season in Australia. As a lone Honda racer, the team can collect more points.
Lance Stroll, Aston Martin Racing
Photo by: Rudy Carezzevoli / Getty Images
“We can’t produce miracles in five weeks,” Aston chief engineer Mike Krack said. “It is a work in progress. I think we saw with our news that we had from Barcelona, that if you work hard for two or three months, we were able to improve the reliability until we are in a position where we can at least run, and we can run at least. So, I think we will not close the entire gap coming to Miami. But we will try to reduce it.”
Who will benefit – Williams
Apart from Aston Martin, Williams has been one of the most disappointing of the start of the new rules with a car that is too heavy, with no aerodynamic load and many natural defects that seem difficult to call in a short time. And like McLaren, it also has the task of improving the power unit of the competitive Mercedes.
As a result, Williams still has to qualify over the age of 15 for a sample of four qualifying rounds, including the Chinese race weekend.
Team boss James Vowles called a frustrating weekend in Japan a “line in the sand” as Alex Albon treated the back half of the grand prix as a glorified test session. By changing the configuration of the front wings on Sunday it was at least able to start a series of major works at its Grove factory, with similar programs continuing to reduce the weight of the FW47 and improve its aero performance.
“Obviously it’s the same for everyone, but for us it’s going to take a bit more time than others,” said Albon. “We are pushing hard for this update for Miami, just to fix it, really, more than anything. We will actually be in the factory every week for those weeks.”
Carlos Sainz added: “That’s what we needed. The reset comes with a kind of new plan, since everything we’ve done so far clearly from 2025 to 2026 didn’t work and we need to press the reset button.
“I can’t guarantee you that we will be more competitive than Miami, but this five-week break can give us a lot of practice until the end of the season.”
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